Di Grassi Gets Ten-Place Grid Penalty Ahead of Santiago E-Prix

Lucas di Grassi has received a ten-place grid drop from wherever he qualifies for Saturday’s first-ever Santiago E-Prix.

The reigning champion took his joker allowance for an inverter change between qualifying and the race during the last round at Marrakesh, meaning that any further change of the component would trigger the penalty rule.

The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team principal explained that because the component was sealed by the FIA, the further testing done in the Marrakesh Rookie test and on the Audi test bench pinpointed a similar issue which had to be addressed.

“We got to the bottom of the issues we had in Marrakesh,” he said. “We reproduced the problem on our test bench but the component is sealed by the FIA and so we were not in a position to fix it without incurring a penalty.”

Di Grassi is yet to score a point this season after one retirement and only 14th and 17th-place finishes to his name.

Teammate Daniel Abt has scored 12 points and so the team sits seventh in the standings and 63 points adrift of championship leader Mahindra Racing.

Earlier today, McNish described his introduction to becoming a team principal as a “baptism of fire.”

Sam Smith is e-racing365's Formula E Editor. A 20-year veteran in motorsports media, including press officer roles in both the FIA Sportscar Championship and at Lola Group, Smith is a well-known face in the Formula E paddock, where he served as series editor for Motorsport.com from 2014-17. Contact Sam